When a major disaster happens, does every out-of-left-field crazy fringe preacher race to become the first to blame LGBT people?

This time, the "winner" was chaplain John McTernan (pictured above), the founder of Defend and Proclaim the Faith ministries. Hurricane Sandy has caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage, but McTernan used the then-pending hurricane to remind followers that the massive storm is just another bit of evidence that America is going to pot.

"God is systematically destroying America," McTernan wrote in a blog post on his website this week. "Just look at what has happened this year."

Then of course there was the ever-consistent folks at the Westboro Baptist Church, who praised God for the storm. Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of the church's founder and leader Fred Phelps, tweeted Tuesday morning, "We bow in humble thanks 2 God 4 Sandy! Thank God for a plain message delivered to a puddle of states that proudly flip Him off! #FagMarriage"

As we know, blaming death, destruction, and mayhem on LGBT people simply isn't new. By now, we're used to it. But you still might be surprised just how often it happens.

On the following pages, see just a few examples of major disasters that sent blame-fingers pointed gayward.

Sodom and GomorrahAh yes, where it all began. The Biblical tale of debauchery and mayhem in these two cities ends badly thanks to God's anger over all of that rape — in the form of, well, sodomy.